The Lighthouse Project launched Inclusive Leadership Playbook for local SMEs and third-sector organisations

On 7 July, the University of Southampton Business School hosted the launch event for The Lighthouse Project, a HEIF-funded knowledge exchange initiative led by Dr Foteini Papadopoulou which explored what inclusive leadership looks like in practice for local SMEs and third-sector organisations.

The event brought together business leaders, community partners, academics and colleagues from across the University to discuss the findings from the project and introduce the newly developed Inclusive Leadership Playbook. The Playbook was created to support organisations in embedding inclusive leadership into everyday decision-making, stakeholder engagement and organisational practice.

Professor Jeni Giambona opened the event and Dr Foteini Papadopoulou, Senior Enterprise Fellow at University of Southampton Business School, presented the key research findings from the project, drawing on survey responses and interviews with senior leaders from Hampshire-based SMEs and third-sector organisations. The findings highlighted that inclusive leadership was strongly associated with voice, psychological safety, transparent decision-making and meaningful stakeholder engagement. They also showed that, while leaders value inclusive leadership, they also need practical, low-burden tools to help make it feasible within busy and resource-constrained organisational environments.

A central theme of the event was the importance of industry engagement in shaping the final Playbook. Insights from local leaders will directly inform the development of practical tools, including prompts for inclusive decision-making, stakeholder voice mapping, meeting reflection and “closing the loop” after consultation. This will ensure that the Playbook is grounded not only in academic research, but also in the lived realities of local organisations.

The event also featured an inspiring practitioner talk by Spencer Bowman, CEO of Mettricks Southampton, who shared reflections on inclusive leadership from an industry perspective. His contribution brought the research themes to life, highlighting the importance of values-led leadership, listening, culture-building and creating environments where people feel able to contribute meaningfully.

The launch concluded with discussion on how the Playbook could be used by SMEs and third-sector organisations to support better conversations, fairer decision-making and stronger stakeholder relationships. Participants were invited to reflect on which tools felt most useful, what would make the Playbook easier to apply, and which stakeholder voices were hardest to include.

The Lighthouse Project has demonstrated the value of bringing together academic insight and practitioner experience to co-create practical resources for local organisations. The Inclusive Leadership Playbook will now be further refined following feedback from the launch event and shared with participating organisations and regional partners.

To know more and to get involved contact Dr Foteini Papadopoulou, Foteini.Papadopoulou@soton.ac.uk